Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

H.R.732 - Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017

One of the most overlooked actions Attorney General Jeff Sessions took was to end third-party settlements. Under the previous administration, the Justice Department allowed companies it fined to pay third-parties organizations not associated with the original crime. Not only did the department allow the offenders to pay third-parties, they received double the credit for doing so. The payments would go to Obama administration approved organizations such as National Council of La Raza, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the National Urban League. All left leaning organizations that help the help the Democrat Party carry out its mission. Congressional investigators estimate at least $3 billion went to third-party groups during the Obama administration.
Sessions issued the order on June 7, 2017, stating, “When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people— not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Unfortunately, in recent years the Department of Justice has sometimes required or encouraged defendants to make these payments to third parties as a condition of settlement. With this directive, we are ending this practice and ensuring that settlement funds are only used to compensate victims, redress harm, and punish and deter unlawful conduct.”
The Sessions led Justice Department has also ended the “sue and settle” scheme. Under the Obama administration, left-leaning groups would sue the federal government to enforce a regulation in a new, expanded way. Because the Obama administration agreed with the left-leaning groups, they refused to defend the federal laws on the books, and would “settle” the suit by signing “consent decrees” that functioned as new regulation.
Not only did the practice create new regulations devoid of congressional oversight, but it also became a cash cow for liberal law firms. Because the government refused to mount a defense, the left-leaning groups were entitled to substantial attorneys’ fees, paid for by the taxpayer. This was another scheme to fund the left and change the laws without going through Congress. But thanks to Sessions, this is no longer happening...For these reforms to become permanent — and to prevent them from happening again — the Congress should pass specific pieces of legislation. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) has a bill H.R. 732, Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017 that has already passed the House, and now sits in the Senate awaiting action. The House has also put the legislation in the upcoming budget, Sec 540, but unfortunately, the Senate has yet to act...